V. I. Lenin

What Is Soviet Power?

Recorded:End of March 1919;First Published:Published according to the gramophone records; Organization of these speeches was accomplished byTsentropechatthe central agency of the All-Russia Central Executive Committee for the Supply and Distribution of Periodicals between 1919 and 1921. 13 of Lenin’s speeches were recorded.Source:Lenin’sCollected Works, 	4th English Edition, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1972 Volume 29, pages 248-249Translated:George HannaTranscription/HTML Markup:David Walters & 	Robert CymbalaCopyleft:V. I. Lenin Internet Archive 	(www.marx.org) 2002; Permission is granted to copy and/or distribute this 	document under the terms of theGNU Free Documentation 	License.

What is Soviet power? What is the essence of this new power, which people in most countries still will not, or cannot, understand? The nature of this power, which is attracting larger and larger numbers of workers in every country, is the following: in the past the country was, in one way or another, governed by the rich, or by the capitalists, but now, for the first time, the country is being governed by the classes, and moreover, by the masses of those classes, which capitalism formerly oppressed. Even in the most democratic and freest republics, as long as capital rules and the land remains private property, the government will always be in the hands of a small minority, nine-tenths of which consist of capitalists, or rich men.

In this country, in Russia, for the first time in the world history, the government of the country is so organised that only the workers and the working peasants, to the exclusion of the exploiters, constitute those mass organisations known as Soviets, and these Soviets wield all state power. That is why, in spite of the slander that the representatives of the bourgeoisie in all countries spread about Russia, the word "Soviet" has now become not only intelligible but popular all over the world, has become the favourite word of the workers, and of all working people. And that is why, notwithstanding all the persecution to which the adherents of communism in the different countries are subjected, Soviet power must necessarily, inevitably, and in the not distant future, triumph all over the world.

We know very well that there are still many defects in the
    organisation of Soviet power in this country. Soviet

    power is not a miracle-working talisman. It does not, overnight,
    heal all the evils of the past- illiteracy, lack of culture, the
    consequences of a barbarous war, the aftermath of predatory
    capitalism. But it does pave the way to socialism. It gives those
    who were formerly oppressed the chance to straighten their backs
    and to an ever-increasing degree to take the whole government of
    the country, the whole administration of the economy, the whole
    management of production, into their own hands.

Soviet power is the road to socialism that was discovered by the masses of the working people, and that is why it is the true road, that is why it is invincible.